The newly-elected Tory councillor said she had spent much of her campaign explaining the Irish border to voters as she was “eaten alive” over Brexit.

“Over here, in the papers and on the radio, nobody was talking about the border and what was going to happen in Ireland, something that was of huge importance to me,” she said.

“They don’t understand the border. They think it’s like something they’ve seen on TV with guards walking up and down patrolling.

“I was explaining how there are houses that straddle both sides of the border, and they found it hard to believe.

“But it’s something that’s so important to me personally, and to everyone at home in Ireland. When I explained the implications to them of a no-deal Brexit, then they began to understand and to come around to my point of view.”